Number 14 – Editorial and society news

This issue is the final one from South Australia this time around and we extend best wishes to Bram Knoop and his assistants at the Hydro Electric Commission in Tasmania who will be producing the next four issues. We are sure that they will impart their own style to the news journal and look forward to their first publication in June next year. O perhaps we should say August?

As a consequence of our involvement with publication over the past two vears we make the suggestion that future issues should appear in February and August rather than June and December as is now the case.

These new dates allow time for the half-yearly State Group reports to be received and takes due cognisance of publication difficulties associated with the Christmas-New Year period.

Our Guest Editorial comes from Mr. Ken Pile who is due to retire within the next few months from his position as Senior Lecturer, Soil Mechanics, at the School of Civil Engineering, South Australian Institute of Technology. Ken has long been associated with both the Geomechanics Society and the Institution of Engineers and we are pleased to hear that he intends to continue this interest into his retirement. We wish him well and look forward to meeting him at future society meetings.

Dr. Peter Mitchell relinquishes the National Chairmanship, handing over to Dr. Neil Mattes of the N.S.W. Electricity Commission. In his annual report Peter reminds us of some of the recent major initiatives of the Society in assisting the geomechanics profession with the publication of guidelines for geotechnical information and also the guidelines for members involved with litigation.

Our leading paper fot this edition is by Professor Harry Poulos and will surely remain a benchmark reference in the practice of piling for many years to come.

Readers may remember the ‘Coulombian Conundrum’ in our previous issue. To date we have had no takers and can only assume that you are saving your answers for discussion at the coming 5th ANZ.

Conference in Geomechanics to be held in Sydney, August 22-26, 1988. Which is a plug for reader-involvement as well as for the conference. Please send your answers to us before the start of the 5th ANZ conference where the originator of the Conundrum, Mr Dennis Smith, has agreed to present a poster for your entertainment and edification. For your convenience the Conundrum has been re-run in this issue.

During the ‘5th ANZ’ there is to be a joint meeting of the national committees for the Australian and New Zealand Geomechanics Societies. The tentative date for this ‘summit’ is Monday 22nd August at the conference venue.

The ‘ANZ’ conferences have over the years offered an excellent opportunity for old friends to catch up with one another and new faces to be introduced. We are confident that the coming ‘5th’ will be no exception.

During the conference the John Jaeger medal is to be awarded.

We take this opportunity to acknowledge the typing, drafting and photographic work carried out by the South Australian Department of Mines and Energy and the Engineering & Water Supply Department. Their facilities were essential to the production of the 1986 and 1987 issues of the news journal.